UU Church in Anaheim, California, Announces New Minister

 

 

 

 

Dear Members of the

Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim:

I’m happy to announce the UUCA Board of Trustees on Sunday, February 17, 2019 ratified a contractual agreement with Reverend James Ishmael Ford to serve as the new part-time “consulting minister” with the UUCA as of April 1, 2019!  He will lead his first worship service with us on Sunday, April 7, 2019. His regular preaching schedule will be the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. 

We will have a reception for Reverend Ford after the worship service on Sunday, March 10, 2019. Please join us in welcoming and extending warm wishes to Reverend Ford!

Here’s a little more information about Reverend Ford:

James has walked the spiritual path for more than fifty years. He’s danced with Sufis, studied with Gnostics, lived in a Buddhist monastery and was ordained a Zen priest. Later he also ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister and preached from the high pulpits in old New England churches. James has reflected on and written books about spirituality and at the same time has worked in the trenches for social justice.

He is married to Jan Seymour-Ford. Jan is a retired librarian active in various social justice projects, primarily through the UU Church of Long Beach. She is also a senior dharma teacher with Boundless Way Zen. They live with their three-legged cat Cassie in the Alamitos Beach neighborhood of Long Beach, California.

A High School drop-out when James considers what might be his alma mater, he has come to feel it would have to be a combination of those early monastic years blending together with near two decades working in used bookstores up and down the California coast. However, along the way he has earned some degrees:

B.A. (Psychology) Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA 1987
M.Div. Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA 1991
M.A. (Philosophy of Religion) P.S.R., 1992

James served as a UU parish minister for twenty-five years. He is minister-emeritus of the First Unitarian Church of Providence. He is also an active Zen teacher, currently serving as senior priest for the Empty Moon Zen Sangha.

 Sincerely,

 Bob Cerince
President, UUCA Board of Trustees